Sunday, February 22, 2009

THE DA VINCI CODE

In just three years since its publication in 2003, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code became one of the most widely read books of all time. As of April 2006, it had been translated into 44 different languages, selling approximately 40 million copies and earning Brown more than £200 million. On 19 May, 2006, The Da Vinci Code film, produced by Sony Pictures, directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen, hit cinema screens all around the world. However, it’s anti-Christian plot has created controversy.

The last page before the book’s prologue begins with the word "Fact" and states, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." Moreover, Dan Brown speaks of his historical research in preparing to write this book. He claims, "The Da Vinci Code describes history as I have come to see it through many years of travel, research, reading, interviews [and] exploration." Repeatedly in The Da Vinci Code, Sir Leigh Teabing, a British royal historian, and Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist, assert that their various claims are supported by "historical evidence … [which] is substantial," so that they are "a matter of historical record" according to "religious historians." Sir Leigh Teabing states, however, "almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." Moreover, The Da Vinci Code portrays the doctrine, history and worship of Christ’s church as based on politically motivated lies. The book’s blasphemy is absolutely essential to its plot.

According The Da Vinci Code, Jesus Christ proclaimed the "sacred feminine" or "goddess worship." Yet witness the vehement opposition of the Old and New Testaments to all idols, including Ashtoreth, the queen of heaven, Diana of the Ephesians and the goddesses of Greece and Rome. All gods or goddesses are an abomination to Jehovah (Deuteronomy 7:25-26) and He curses those who promote or worship them (Deuteronomy 11:28).

The first commandment declares,"Thou shalt have no other gods [or goddesses] before me"(Exodus 20:3).

One wonders how Christ could have survived for over three years of public ministry—on hills, by the Sea of Tiberias, in synagogues, in the temple, etc. (John 18:20)—preaching a message of goddess worship in Galilee and Judea to first century Jews!

Certainly it would have been very easy at His trial before the Jewish religious leaders to prove Him guilty of a capital offence. Old Testament law required the death penalty for those who preached other gods or goddesses (Deutereonomy 13:6-11). Strangely, The Da Vinci Code states that Jesus is "the prophesied Messiah," yet the anointed One promised in the Old Testament was God’s special prophet, like Moses, who opposed all forms of idolatry (Deutereonomy 18:9-22; Acts 3:22-23).

In The Da Vinci Code, Jesus married Mary Magdalene (a descendant of King Saul!) and fathered a daughter, Sarah, from whom sprang the Merovingians, a medieval French royal dynasty, and ultimately Sophie Neveu, the book’s heroine. Christ intended Mary Magdalene to be the head of His church. The sacred feminine, Mary Magdalene—her bones and secret documents—is the Holy Grail!

In support of this world of virtual reality, The Da Vinci Code contains numerous, gross, historical blunders concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi, the New Testament canon, the early church, Constantine, the Council of Nicea, the Lord’s Day, the origin of the word "heretic," etc.

Instead of the four biblical gospel accounts, The Da Vinci Code would substitute the Gnostic gospels which are fragmentary, much later, pseudonymous (no one believes that Mary Magdalene, Philip or Thomas wrote the "gospels" attributed to them), largely disinterested in events in Christ’s life, and often bizarre (e.g., "every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven;" Gospel of Thomas 114).

The Gnostics were dualists, believing the spirit to be good and matter to be evil. The world was created by the demiurge, a derivative and evil god. For most Gnostics, Jesus only seemed to be human (the heresy of Docetism; I John 4:1-3). The heavenly Christ did not suffer on the cross; His earthly substitute was crucified. Salvation lies in secret knowledge (Greek: gnosis) providing the elite with passwords enabling them to ascend past the planets.

Even Tom Hanks, Harvard professor Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code movie, admits, "… the story we tell is loaded with all sorts of hooey and … nonsense." Similarly, Tim Robey, after watching the two and a half hours of The Da Vinci Code film, wrote in The Daily Telegraph of "the plot’s sheer volume of mulish nonsense."

Solomon declares, "The simple believeth every word"(Proverbs 14:15).

Don’t be deceived into thinking that The Da Vinci Code is "fiction based on fact." Scripture warns against departing from the truth and being"turned unto fables"(2 Timothy 4:4). Anti-Christian conspiracy theories, and the religious controversies they spawn, sell books and fill cinemas but The Da Vinci Code ought not prejudice one against the incarnate, crucified and reigning Christ of the Bible.

About Me

Elected by my Heavenly Father before the foundation of the world to eternal life with himself, not through any forseen free will faith but only by God's mercy. Jesus Christ the only begotten of the Father then redeemed me through his precious blood shed on the cross and the Holy Spirit made me alive in Christ, it was only then that i willfully ran to the mercy of God through his son Jesus Christ.
Therefore i am but a piece of clay whom the Father had mercy on - and the father now works in me to will and do of his good pleasure - all for the glory of himself and his dear son Jesus.
Heavenly Father has graciously given me a desire for truth - and my aim is to share this truth that the Lord Jesus has revealed to me to whoever he wills.
for many are called but few are chosen.